Emily Patten

Phd Student

Tessa Boffin, The Knight’s Move (detail): The Knight, 1990/2023, Archival inkjet print, 106.7 x 38.8 cm, Displayed at Hales Gallery New York, 2023. Originally published in Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs, ed. Tessa Boffin and Jean Fraser, 1991.

Lesbian Fantasy and Cultural Self-Fashioning in the Photographic Work of Tessa Boffin.

With this research, I aim to continue the project I began during my master’s degree (completed 2023). It is here that I focused my dissertation on the work of British, lesbian photographer, Tessa Boffin (1963-1993). Boffin’s concentrated but varied artistic practice included photography, performance art, curation, arts criticism and academic scholarship, developing in the context of the HIV/AIDs crisis and Section 28 activism.

In my MA dissertation entitled, ‘Icons Under Section 28: How Does Tessa Boffin Explore Lesbian Cultural Identity, Using the Photographic ‘Tableau’ Form in The Knight’s Move (1990)?’, I was able to explore this series in detail and its wider context as it was published in Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs (1991), a book and exhibition edited and curated by Boffin alongside Jean Fraser. There is, however, much more to explore.

In this written thesis, it is my goal to expand on this research to consider the rest of Boffin’s oeuvre and archival materials held at UCA Farnham. I believe Boffin’s work is currently understudied and holds much value to the Queer history of art and photography. I am particularly interested in the gender presentation in her work and as a result of this research, I hope to better understand the role of ‘gender deviance’, fantasy and activism in lesbian visual cultures. A detailed study of Boffin’s work will provide greater context into lesbian cultural self-fashioning, particularly in her use of photographic tableau. This would provide further nuance on the subject, as a reflection on lesbian icons and lived experiences.

Emily Patten’s research is supervised by: Dr Sunil Gupta, (Professorial Fellow of Photography, UCA Farnham); Professor Anna Fox (Professor of Photography, UCA Farnham); and Dr Caroline Molloy (Programme Director for Fine Art and Photography, UCA Farnham)

This research has been made possible with the assistance of the University for the Creative Arts Vice Chancellor PhD Studentship in photography.